Recipe of the Month – Sweet Potato, Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas

“There are 2 kinds of people in this world: people who like enchiladas and people who have no [effing] taste. Which are you?” – Thug Kitchen The Official Cookbook.

If you’ve never heard of the Thug Kitchen cookbook, then you need to take a minute and look it up. I can wait. It’s freaking fantastic. Trust me.

(Photo Credit: Matt Holloway, Thug Kitchen)

With one or 2 minor adjustments, this recipe came directly from the OG cookbook.

If you’ve been reading my posts, you know that I have been slowly but surely switching to a much healthier lifestyle. While I am not completely vegan or even vegetarian, about 80% of my diet is meat and dairy free.

So many cookbooks, as tasty as they may be, call for ingredients that you can’t necessarily find in your neighborhood market. One of the many reasons that I am obsessed with Thug Kitchen is because the authors make it so easy and inexpensive to be healthy. I found everything at the local grocer and spent less than 20 bucks. (Granted some of the shit I already had).

So let’s get cookin’, shall we?

Ingredients:

Enchilada Sauce:

2 1/4 C vegetable broth

1/3 cup tomato paste

2 1/2 Tbsp chili powder (I skipped this. I don’t do spicy)

2 tsp ground cumin

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

2 to 3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp soy sauce or tamari

1 Tbsp lime juice

Enchilada Filling:

1 large sweet potato chopped into 1 inch cubes

2 tsp olive oil (I use grapeseed oil)

1/2 yellow onion chopped (Frozen works fine too)

1 medium yellow squash, grated (About 1-1 1/2 cups)

1 tsp chili powder (Again, I skipped this. BLECH)

1/2 ground cumin

1/2 tsp salt

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (Or 1 can)

1 tsp maple syrup or agave syrup (I used maple)

a pack of corn or flour tortillas (I used small corn tortillas)

sliced avocado (Optional, used for garnish)

Chopped fresh cilantro (Also optional, used for garnish)

First step: make the sauce. Throw all the ingredients EXCEPT FOR THE LIME JUICE into a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. (Don’t be like me and just blindly forge ahead. I added the lime too soon. While the enchiladas taste just fine, who knows what kind of pandora’s box I opened).

Use a spoon or whisk or whatever to break up the tomato paste. Clumpy is bad. Let that simmer for about 15 minutes. You want the sauce to thicken. Now add the lime juice and turn off the heat. The sauce will cool while you make the filling.

Next you’ll soften the sweet potato. I made the mistake of cutting it into cubes before softening. It can be done, but it’s a lot harder.

Thug Kitchen has you steaming the potato in a saucepan with a steamer basket. I had to google what that even looked like. So if you are like me and don’t have fancy cooking equipment, then the microwave will work just fine. Steam the potato in a microwave safe bowl with about 1 inch of water in the bottom. Put plastic wrap over (or a microwave safe top) to catch the steam and zap the potato for 5-7 minutes.

While the potato is steaming, shred your squash.

I bought what I thought was a medium yellow squash, turns out I bought butternut and it was a bit larger than I needed. (I don’t actually care because I fucking love squash in any way, shape or color. Now I have extra to make soup with later).

Ok, next, mash the sweet potato until your arm gets tired. It’s ok if there are some chunks left. Set that and the squash to the side. In a large skillet or wok, heat your oil over medium heat then toss in the onions. Saute them until they begin to brown, (3-5 minutes). Next toss in the squash for another minute.

Throw in the cumin, garlic, salt and black beans. Lastly, fold in the mashed potato and the maple syrup. Turn off the heat and stir bishes. Stir.

Preheat your oven to 375 and grab a casserole dish (oven safe of course). In the bottom of the dish, pour 1 1/2 cups of the sauce in. Heat the tortillas in the oven or the microwave until warm. (In the microwave it takes about 2 minutes).

Place each tortilla into the dish gently, letting the sauce completely cover the bottom of it. Fill each tortilla with about 2 spoonfuls of filling. Don’t overfill because your tortilla will break. I learned this the hard way.

Then roll them up and keep going until you have no more room or no more filling.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and cook the enchiladas for about 20 minutes. Then remove the foil and cook for another 5. Let them cool before serving. top with avocado or cilantro to make them look nice.

Mine came out a wee bit dry, so I may eat them with a dallop of salsa or guac. I was going to put avocado on them, but the avocado was a little too soft to slice. They are still pretty freaking tasty though.

Final Thoughts: These were yummy. My roommates approved (even the meat eater). I’ll be making these again. Oh and seriously, get yourself a copy of Thug Kitchen. Your enchiladas may turn out even better than mine.